later he's set to meet with angela merkel. he met earlier with the nation's foreign minister. germany is the second stop on kerry's premiere diplomatic tour. he'll visit nine countries over 11 days. short time he insisted there is a diplomatic path to be forced with iran as six world powers began meeting today with iranian officials in kazhakstan. >>> president obama will be talking about the forced spending cuts, an estimated 40,000 civilian defense department jobs in the region could be furloughed if the cuts are not stopped. we'll get more from white house correspondent dan lothian. >> reporter: from the welders and sheet metal maintenance workers, washington's inability to avert deep cuts has left them uncertain about their futures. >> everybody's talking about it and worried. >> reporter: work on 13 ships at several of its sites would have to stop if a deal wasn't struck. >> if it goes fully and we run completely out of work, there will be a skeletal crew in here, just to keep the plant up and running. >> reporter: this air of uncertainty is why some members of virginia's